Hectence is the longest-serving member of the Quiptic setting team (debut Monday 13th December 1999), and always produces a pleasing and accessible puzzle in my experience.
This was exactly that, although it took me a little time to tease out my last few in. Hectence usually produces a pangram: all twenty-six letters of the alphabet appear at least once. This was a help to me this morning, because QUAD BIKE was one of those last few in, and when I realised that we hadn’t had a Q yet, that got me over the finishing line.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
9 Government uses spin taking on Labour theory
GUESSWORK
A charade of G, (USES)* and WORK. The anagrind is ‘spin’.
10 Spa facility gets top rating in tabloid article
SAUNA
An insertion of A in SUN A. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.
11 Information on category
GENRE
A charade of GEN and RE.
12 Nearly attended game with City
CAMBRIDGE
A charade of CAM[E] and BRIDGE gives you the university City.
13 A hundred break truce over New Year
CENTURY
An insertion of N in (TRUCE)* followed by Y. The anagrind is ‘break’ and the insertion indicator is ‘over’.
14 Cool French detective’s taking time to visit
INFLICT
A charade of IN, FLIC and T. ‘The teasing visited/inflicted upon him was cruel.’ Slightly cruel also perhaps is the use of FLIC for ‘French detective’, because it’s very much argot, and unless you speak French well or have seen a lot of French films, you’re unlikely to know it. And for me, to whom both those conditions apply, it means ‘cop’ rather than ‘detective’.
17 Repaired marble, cutting line for resin
AMBER
(MARB[L]E)* with ‘repaired’ as the anagrind.
19 On-line fixer found among stereotype geeks
PEG
Hidden in stereotyPE Geeks. The ‘line’, of course, is the old-fashioned washing line.
20 Writer rejected investing in computers as foolish
INEPT
An insertion of PEN reversed in IT. The insertion indicator is ‘investing’ in and the reversal indicator is ‘rejected’.
21 What’s left of engineers’ team bringing in union
RESIDUE
A charade of RE and U in SIDE. The insertion indicator is ‘bringing in’.
22 Old ally worried, seeing limits of Tory fidelity
LOYALTY
(O ALLY)* followed by TY for the outside letters of ‘Tory’. The anagrind is ‘worried’.
24 Disappearing with commercial vehicle is nigh hopeless
VANISHING
A charade of VAN, IS and (NIGH)* The anagrind is ‘hopeless’.
26 Field in biplane race heading westward
ARENA
Hidden reversed in biplANE RAce.
28 Threats start off body searches
RISKS
[F]RISKS
29 In the end Eva Peron’s accepted by revolutionary guard
CHAPERONE
An insertion of A and PERON in the setters’ fave ‘revolutionary’, CHE [Guevara]. The insertion indicator is ‘accepted by’.
Down
1 Very keen on Prague centre’s own goal
AGOG
A charade of AG for the central letter of ‘Prague’ and OG.
2 Take control of evacuated remote pub harbouring insurgent leader
REIN IN
A charade of R[EMOT]E and I for the initial letter of ‘insurgent’ in INN. The insertion indicator is ‘harbouring’.
3 Answer odd R&D queries when needed
AS REQUIRED
A charade of A and (RD QUERIES)* The anagrind is ‘odd’.
4 Oversensitive youth, nervous about college
TOUCHY
An insertion of C in (YOUTH)* The insertion indicator is ‘about’ and the anagrind is ‘nervous’.
5 Remove cream to guzzle without partner’s being mean
SKIMPING
A charade of SKIM and and insertion of N for the bridge ‘partner’ in PIG. The insertion indicator is ‘without’, as an antonym for ‘within’.
6 Artist’s picture heartily upset Russian leader
TSAR
A reversal of RAS and T for the central letter (‘heartily’) of ‘picture’.
7 Off-road vehicle has decibels I tremble to describe
QUAD BIKE
An insertion of DB and I in QUAKE. The insertion indicator is ‘to describe’.
8 Crop broadcast for web
MAZE
Aural wordplay (‘broadcast’) for MAIZE.
13 Look after church director
CHAIR
A charade of CH and AIR.
15 Just developing a style for children’s stories
FAIRY TALES
A charade of FAIR and (A STYLE)* The anagrind is ‘developing’.
16 Worn-out old reservists getting dry and cosy at last
TATTY
A charade of TA for Territorial Army or ‘reservists’, TT for ‘dry’ and Y for the final letter of ‘cosy’. TA for ‘reservists’ has been crosswordspeak since for ever, but the Territorial Army in Britian ceased to exist more than ten years ago; it is now called the Army Reserve. Which is why Hectence has clued it as ‘old reservists’. Brava.
18 Public transport head acquiring international company
BUSINESS
An insertion of I in BUS and NESS. The insertion indicator is ‘acquiring’.
19 Pincer movement caught thief heading for shopping mall
PRECINCT
A charade of (PINCER)*, C and T for the initial letter of ‘thief’. The anagrind is ‘movement’.
22 Student’s jog spoiled by morning congestion
LOGJAM
A charade of L, (JOG)* and AM. The anagrind is ‘spoiled’.
23 Picked up inflatable mattress to go into hiding
LIE LOW
Aural wordplay (‘picked up’) for LILO.
24 Video Assistant Referee has ultimate authority to make a change
VARY
A charade of VAR and Y for the final letter of ‘authority’. Great surface, for those that follow the beautiful game; but let’s not go there.
25 Elite forces given hard-to-get belt
SASH
A charade of SAS and H.
27 Cut acerbic leader by journalist
AXED
A charade of A for the initial letter of ‘acerbic’, X for ‘by’ (think of a two-by-two piece of wood) and ED.
Many thanks as always to Hectence for a thoughtful and entertaining Quiptic.
Thanks Hectence and Pierre
Very good Quiptic. I didn’t parse the PING bit of 5d, and am not all that impressed now it’s explained.
Favourites TOUCHY (great surface) and LOGJAM.
QUAD BIKE was lovely. Not quite sure how ‘air’ = ‘look’, but no doubt someone will enlighten me. Like muffin @1, the PING got away from me. And what job is ‘In the end, Eva’ doing in 29a? Nevertheless, an excellent Quiptic – thanks, Hectence and Pierre.
I found knowing Hectence usually produces pangrams helpful too. I thought QUAD BIKE when I first went through reading the clues, but didn’t immediately parse it, so left it until I had some crossers to confirm my hunch – but parsing, when I bothered to think about it on my second pass, was clear.
I had to have some crossers to dig flic out of my memory banks for INFLICT – I don’t think my French is that good, but I have read a lot of detective fiction, so maybe that’s where I encountered it.
Not the quickest Quiptic I’ve ever solved, but definitely quicker than Paul in the Cryptic slot this morning.
Thank you to Hectence and Pierre.
TassieTim @2 – the A in CHAPERONE is the end of EVA, plus PERON inside CHE the evergreen revolutionary.
Air = look = appearance (which I also didn’t see immediately), as in: he had a louche air/look/appearance.
An entertaining puzzle. I parsed 6D as an anagram of ART (artist’s picture) and S (central letter of upset). Now I can see Royal Academy’s. It’s a learning curve.
Thanks to Hectence for the puzzle and Pierre for untangling the clues.
A nice Quiptic – although my eyebrow is still quivering at FLIC, which I only know from crosswords, in a beginner’s puzzle. Not fully sold on ‘maze’ as ‘web’, but I suppose so, and in any case I needed the Z. Partner for any of N, E, S, or W a bit of a stretch IMO. ‘Thief heading’/’ultimate authority’/’acerbic leader’ aren’t T/Y/A in my book, but I’m fighting a losing battle there.
Minor quibbles aside, I particularly liked LIE LOW, LOGJAM, QUAD BIKE, and TOUCHY.
Thanks Hectence and Pierre.
PS. Punctuation marks in clues are showing oddly in the app, so e.g. 3d reads Answer odd R&D queries when needed. Easy enough to figure out but seems to be a new problem, hopefully easily fixed
I’ve come across FLIC for a French policeman – Tintin, perhaps?
Shanne @4: of course, silly me. Thanks.
Un flic ‘(English: A Cop; also known as Dirty Money) is a 1972 crime thriller film, the last directed by Jean-Pierre Melville before his death the following year. It stars Alain Delon, Richard Crenna and Catherine Deneuve. Delon had previously portrayed criminals in Melville’s Le Samourai (1967) and Le Cercle Rouge (1970), but in Un flic, his role is reversed, and he plays the title character.’
Liked LIE LOW for being grammatically correct. LAY LOW always grates – except for “Will this wind be so mighty as to LAY LOW the mountains of the earth?”
Thanks H&P
After nearly 50 years living in France I shared Pierre’s doubts about a detective being un flic. For me, they’re the uniformed ones you see in the street. In retrospect, I wish it had been in clue number 22, as I’ve always wondered where the French expression for “Look out: cops!” (22, voilà les flics !) came from. Seems like I’m not the only one…the French wikipedia gives 15 different possible origins, without seeming dreadfully keen on any of them.
You need to understand French to follow the link. And I’ve now found out how you can now edit comments. Thanks, techies!
Presumably the tradename “Lilo” is a pun on LIE LOW?
Favourites: PEG, AXED.
I could not parse 5d apart from SKIM=remove cream. Not being a bridge player, these types of clues often elude me!
New for me: QUAD BIKE.
I was fine with flic being detective if we think of police in the UK having ranks such as DS, DI, DC – these are policemen rather than detectives and it works fine for me as a crossword clue.
Thanks, both.
Good solid Quiptic. It took me almost as long to work out MAZE and AXED as the rest of the puzzle! I had no trouble with PI(N)G, however.
I’m familiar with ‘flic’, but I also think of it as a slang word for an ordinary gendarme.
Thanks to Hectence and Pierre
[That was the 1979 Rowan Atkinson version from The Secret Policeman’s Ball benefit for Amnesty International.
If you want the original 1960 Dudley Moore version from Beyond the Fringe (1960) it’s here – The End is Nigh]
Well I got INFLICT but was surprised, as others, to see the need to know FLIC in a Quiptic.
I think INEPT is quite different from foolish; dictionaries seem to agree with me, but nobody here has mentioned it.
Chambers has ‘foolish, silly’ for INEPT among other meanings.
Cor, thanks to Cracking the Cryptic’s tutelage and Hectence’s excellent cluing, this is probably the first puzzle I’ve actually completed; certainly within an hour altogether!
Although I didn’t think of “maze” as a synonym for “web” so I put in RAZE and hoped that fifteensquared would tell me how that works… So, nearly.
I vaguely remember learning lilo from other puzzles and PRECINCT for mall was new but obvious. However, NHO flic, QUAD BIKE or pig=guzzle so the northeast corner wandered into Cryptic territory for me.
I thought this was ideal Quiptic fare, elevated by particularly smooth clueing. GENRE is a great example.
I agree that “flic” is a bit niche. For some reason it’s always stuck with me since A-level French that “un flic pourri” is “a bent cop”, otherwise this would have baffled me.
Thanks both and always grateful for the entertainment.
Now, for me a lilo is not inflatable. It’s kind of deck chair which unfolds to allow one to adopt a supine position (prone not too comfy). They may be observed around the fields of Athenry (but rarely – lot of rain thereabouts) or on sun-drenched beaches elsewhere.
Alphalpha @21
From my camping trips in the 60s and 70s, Lilos were definitley inflatable. If you were posh, you had a hand pump rather than having to use your lungs!
I am interested by several comments here (and on previous Quiptics) about certain GK being ‘too much for a Quiptic’. To me, GK is (largely) a different thing to to the techniques, skills and knowledges needed to solve a cryptic crossword. One could have very good GK, and yet be a complete amateur at cryptics – and vice versa (great cryptic solving skills, poor GK). An exception is those bits of GK ‘only seen in cryptics’ (e.g. sex = IT).
TT@23: The expression “had IT off with….” is still current isn’t it?
What do all of you who have NHO QUAD BIKE call one? Or have you simply never come across one? They are ubiquitous in the countryside.
I enjoyed this immensely. I think PEG was my favourite for the misdirection.
Thanks all for crossword, blog and comments
Pierre’s comment about the pangram helping to get QUAD BIKE is a little odd, because there is another Q in the puzzle (AS REQUIRED). I suppose that if one hadn’t solved either of the two, then knowing there must be a Q could help you get to either one.
MAZE was one of my last ones, and knowing that the puzzle was undoubtedly a pangram helped with that.
I also didn’t know that PRECINCT could refer to a shopping mall, but the clue was quite gettable even with my ignorance. I also didn’t remember the word LILO, although I’m fairly sure I had seen it before, but again with crossers the clue was solvable anyway.
18d – I have no idea where I or NESS comes from. If anyone is still around I’d be grateful for some education.
22a – where does L come from?
Steffen – a Ness is a type of headland (which I had to look up). So public transport => BUS, head => NESS, international => I. Put it all together into BUSINESS.
And in 22a, both Ls come from an anagram of ALLY (‘ally worried’).
I found this utterly enjoyable, even though some of the references I didn’t get, like FLIC and INEPT. There were so many make you smile clues (is there a phrase for that?), that I still found it fun. For example, CAMBRIDGE, LIE LOW, LOG JAM and even CHAIR.
I didn’t realise that Hectence has a penchant for pangrams. Thanks for that tip Pierre, I’ll try to remember for the future.
I found this a little bit tougher than some Quiptics (which is not a complaint, by the way). I see that our new editor has addressed the usual complaints that the Quiptic was harder than the Monday cryptic by giving the cryptic slot to Paul this week.
Thanks Hectence for the excellent puzzle, and Pierre for the helpful blog.
nicbach@24, where I come from we call them ATVs (all terrain vehicles), and I think they are utes in Australia. Perhaps geography rather than ignorance is the reason for the unfamiliarity of the term to some of us.
Number of clues I got this week but didn’t understand. And beyond my abilities currently. Ness, Flic, N for partner all a bit obscure for my liking. Though I may be the only one who gets frustrated when I know the answer in a quiptic but still can’t explain why 😀
I am still unused to some of the clues eg “picked up” or “broadcast” meaning homophones etc,
Plus please can someone tell me why RAS is artist? RA for Royal Academy? Where does the S come from (I understand the T)
I did get flic, mostly cos I like French cop shows (the subtitled ones) and as I did gcse French I enjoy trying to see if I can spot any familiar French words on the actors lips – flic is one I can spot!!!
QuietEars – Artist’s = RA’S
Ah! Thank you @34 Widdersbel
I’ve recently discovered the Quiptic genre, and I find it an ideal middle way between Quick (when it’s boring) and Cryptic (when it’s demotivating if you can’t get even one on the first pass). I love the way that sometimes answers seem to come suddenly out of nowhere until I realise that my subconscious has somehow managed to knit together the prompts – very satisfying. It’s interesting, but not surprising, to observe that cultural variations between British/American/Australian usage (separated by a common language ha ha) can cause difficulties, so thank you for fifteensquared! I’ve just realised that “anagrind” should be pronounced as anag “rind” as in “indicator”, and not as in “teethgrinding”, which it sometimes causes. I am in the process of making a complete dictionary of daft anagrinds in the hope of spotting them better in future. Hectence, I bow to your amazing talent, even if it causes a bit of hair-tearing now and then!